Tag Archives: St. Hilda's

The sale of St. Hilda’s

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The Diocese of Niagara is reporting selling St. Hilda’s for $1,900,000:

The Anglican Diocese of Niagara sold the former St. Hilda’s Church property to the Region of Halton on August 14, 2013 for $1,900,000.

A response from the Town of Oakville to my email inquiry on their buying price yielded:

Hi David;
The amount was $2,250,000.00 to purchase the 1258 Rebecca Street property.

It appears that the Town has the purchase price wrong:

St. Hilda's SaleAs you can see, the property has been sold twice, once in 1957 for $2 when it was effectively donated by a parishioner; the parishioner was still attending St. Hilda’s when the vote was taken to leave the Diocese of Niagara in 2008. The second sale was by the Diocese of Niagara in 2013 for a slightly larger sum.

Oakville residents unhappy about St. Hilda’s being turned into an EMS station

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From here:

Right idea, wrong location.

That’s the sentiment expressed by more than 70 southwest Oakville residents Wednesday night at a public meeting regarding Halton Region’s plan to build an ambulance station and safe haven at the site of the former St. Hilda’s Anglican Church.

The Region recently purchased the two-acre site at 1258 Rebecca St.

While the meeting at T.A. Blakelock High School was set up as a drop-in information centre, after about 30 minutes, Regional representatives bowed to demand from residents and switched to a town hall format.

In 2005, the Region’s 10-Year Emergency Services Master Plan identified the need for a paramedic station to respond more quickly to emergency medical calls in southwest Oakville.

“We agree with this, but there are more suitable locations within less than two minutes,” said resident Cindy Wagg, pointing to Speers Road and non-residential areas.

Resident Ella Kokotsis says thousands of children and teens in the Rebecca Street area travel to school by bus, bicycle or on foot. The area also has a daycare centre, retirement residence, churches and a library. Kokotsis and others are concerned about pedestrian safety.

It’s nice to be missed.

The Love of God Fits Everyone

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One of St. Hilda’s parishioners wrote a children’s song over 80 years ago. In 2010 he asked me to set it to music. Two of my grandchildren introduced it to the congregation then and, since they are visiting from Australia, they joined me to sing it again today.

Here is the song’s author, his wife and a few others::

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Here are the words:

The love of God fits everyone,
it comes in every size.
it comes in every colour
And lights a billion eyes.

His miracles are everywhere –
the earth, the air, the sea,
and everything that’s in them,
including you and me.

The time of God is evermore,
a never ending line,
and his hand is everywhere
and here in yours and mine.

The love of God fits everyone,
it comes in every size.
it comes in every colour
and lights a billion eyes.

Diocese of Niagara sells St. Hilda’s Church

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It was sold to the city and will be turned into a paramedic station.

_Y8C4545From here:

Dear Resident:

Re: Public drop-in session, Wednesday, September 18 – intended development of southwest Oakville paramedic station.

This letter is in follow up to the August 15 letter you received regarding Halton Region’s intention to develop a paramedic station in southwest Oakville at 1258 Rebecca Street, formerly St. Hilda’s Anglican Church. As mentioned in the letter, the Region will be holding a public drop-in session to answer any questions and to hear your thoughts on the construction and operation of a paramedic station at this site. Details about that session have now been confirmed and we hope you can attend.

[…..]

Construction of the new paramedic station is targeted to begin in late 2014, pending planning approvals.

As a reminder, information about the planning and intended development of the station can also be found at www.halton.ca/SWOakvilleStation. We will continue to update the page regularly.

We look forward to hearing from you at the drop-in session. If you are unable to attend and have any questions, please call me at 905-825-6000, ext. 7091, send me an email at greg.sage@halton.ca, or contact Christine Barber, Deputy Chief/Manager, Operations at 905-825-6000 ext. 7045 or christine.barber@halton.ca.

And here:

Why do we intend to build a paramedic station at 1258 Rebecca Street?

    • A new paramedic station will support the health and safety of residents in the community.
    • Southwest Oakville has one of the highest rates of paramedic calls in Halton Region.
    • The area needs a paramedic station to help paramedics respond to calls in the area more quickly, which will improve patient outcomes and save lives.
    • The need for a station in southwest Oakville was identified in 2005, in the Emergency Medical Services 10-Year Master Plan.[…..]

What else will be going on this property?

  • We have no plans for the remainder of the property at this time.
  • Any future land use is required to be approved by Council and the community would be consulted before anything moved forward.
  • The community can be assured that the property will be maintained in good condition at all times by the Region.

When will construction begin and end?

  • Pending permits, demolition would then happen in the fall of 2013.
  • Pending approvals, construction will begin in late 2014 or early 2015.
  • The station is scheduled to be operational in 2015.

 

St. Hilda’s rectory was sold a number of months back for $650,000; it is now a hole in the ground beside a large pile of earth:

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And here is a portion of the letter from the bishop promising to keep the church open:

11-09-2013 5-58-00 PM

Diocese of Niagara allows entropy to have its way with St. Hilda’s

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When St. Hilda’s congregation left the Diocese of Niagara in 2008, bishops Spence and Bird sent the congregation a letter saying, among other things: “be assured that we are prepared to keep the doors of this beautiful church open and will offer every support and pastoral care to those who choose to stay.”

Five years later, not only are the doors not open, but the church has been barricaded with concrete blocks large enough to serve as tank traps.

Yesterday morning after a friend passed the building, she phoned me to let me know that there were three police cars in the driveway along with another car containing someone bearing a strong resemblance to Dean Peter Wall. I suspect that either someone had broken in and was squatting – in which case the diocese would have nothing to complain of since it is so keen on Occupy – or there had been an act of vandalism.

The back door does have some new decoration:

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I can’t decide whether the symbol represents something satanic or is a new diocesan emblem.

In other parts of the property weeds have taken over what used to be attractive gardens:

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It’s just as well the church sign is still announcing who is responsible for the empty, disintegrating, graffiti besmirched shell:

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Here are the inviting concrete blocks in all their inclusive splendour:

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Justin Welby wants us to be reconciled reconcilers

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Putting this into tangible and local terms: my parish, St. Hilda’s, left the Diocese of Niagara in 2008 because we could no longer go along with the theological drift of the diocese. As a result, the diocese sued St. Hilda’s and ended up owning our building; the building is now up for sale.

Justin Welby believes that “reconciliation” would entail the individuals from both sides “finding a way to love the person with whom you are dealing, quite probably not agreeing with each other but disagreeing in love.”

Is this achievable? Yes, I think so. Will it make any difference? None whatsoever.

From a practical perspective, St. Hilda’s will not return to the Diocese of Niagara because the theological differences have, if anything, increased not decreased. The Diocese of Niagara and, more broadly, the Anglican Church of Canada, could recognise ANiC as a legitimate expression of Canadian Anglicanism. But then their consciences would nag them to give the buildings back, something which would be an act of God akin to his creating a rock too heavy for him to lift.

So while we may end up “disagreeing in love”, we will do so at a respectable distance, making Welby’s brand of “reconciliation” little more than a damp squib.

St. Hilda's Christmas Dinner 2012

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More here

We have been ejected from our building and our rectory has been sold, but nothing stops us eating or celebrating the arrival of the Incarnation, the Word made flesh.

Collecting the tickets:

 

The MC:

 

The people:

 

The tuba lesson:

 

The Three Tenors:

 

More here

Diocese of Niagara sells St. Hilda's rectory

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The Diocese of Niagara took possession of St. Hilda’s rectory as part of the negotiated settlement between St. Hilda’s and the diocese. The settlement boiled down to the congregation of St. Hilda’s giving the diocese of Niagara the church building and rectory; in exchange the diocese would stop suing the congregation.

In the last few weeks, the diocese sold the rectory for $650,000, $50,000 over its minimum price.